Materials
- A bottle of distilled water (not mineral)
- A plate
- A few ice cubes
Instructions
- Place a bottle of distilled water flat in the freezer.
- Leave it in the freezer for about 1.5 hours. The water should be very cold but still liquid.
- Remove the bottle carefully and do not shake it.
- Place an ice cube on a plate.
- Open the bottle and gently pour the water over the ice cube.
- Observe as the water freezes instantly, forming an ice tower!
What’s going on?
- This experiment demonstrates supercooling and nucleation. Distilled water can be cooled below its normal freezing point (0 °C) without turning into ice. Because distilled water contains very few impurities or suspended particles, there are fewer places for ice crystals to begin forming.
- When the supercooled water is poured onto an ice cube, the existing ice provides a nucleation site that triggers crystallization. Water molecules rapidly arrange into an ordered crystal structure, causing the water to freeze on contact. As more supercooled water is poured, it freezes onto the existing ice, causing the ice to grow upward.
Important:
- This experiment works best with distilled water. Regular bottled or tap water contains dissolved minerals and other impurities that can trigger ice formation before the water becomes sufficiently supercooled, making the instant-freezing effect much less reliable.
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